Karaz-a-Karak – Grand Station

North of the Hall of Kings is the Grand Station of Karaz-a-Karak. Serving as the main artery connecting Karaz-a-Karak to the other holds to the north, south, and west, the station is a vital district of Karaz-a-Karak. Its grand role in Karak Ankor is equally depicted in its grand architecture. Massive columns line the station topped with giant braziers ever aglow. Ramps run up and down the walls of the massive cavern linking the station floor to the many levels of Karaz-a-Karak and the quarters of the dwarves that tend to the rails. In times of peace those that tend to the station and the rails extending deep into Ungrin Ankor are stout dwarves armed with massive hammers, ready to set new rail-ties and test old ones. When trouble lurks around the corner these dwarves quickly transform themselves into mighty warriors. To compliment their brothers-in-arms, the Grand Station is guarded by a regiment of the King’s Hammerers who man the watch towers over the tracks. The main track, the northern one, serves as the artery of Ungrin Ankor. The southern track is an auxiliary track linking the capital to outlying districts , guard posts in the outskirts of the World’s Edge Mountains, mine junctions deep in the mountain, and various districts of the capital. Cranes swivel between the two tracks loading goods from one to the other, be they ale from the Brewmaster’s Brewery, iron from the mines, siege weapons, or weapons of war. Galleys line the heights of the cavern and bridges span its length connecting the front of Karaz-a-Karak to its deeper districts. The Grand Station is indeed a testament to the ingenuity and architectural expertise of the dwarves.

Grand Station
North of the Engineer’s Guild, Hall of Kings, and Valaya’s District, the main floor is crowned by the Karaz-a-Karak Station, also known in Karak Ankor as the Grand Station. Massive doors lay on the south and north walls of the station connecting it to the other districts; however, during the invasion of Karaz-a-Karak the northern doors of the domestic quarters are sealed shut by mighty runes, protecting the weak and vulnerable so that should the main sector of the capital fall they will have time to flee. So vital is its role in the survival of not only the capital but also of Karak Ankor that it is heavily guarded by the King’s Hammerers and siege equipment. The main line is spanned by four pairs of mighty guard towers, each connected by a bridge arching over the railway. These towers ensure that no threat shall threaten Karaz-a-Karak from Ungrin Ankor, and likewise should it be threatened from within that the Grand Station shall not fall to an unruly mob. To secure the Grand Station, the invading army will have to steal kegs of black powder from the repair depot and plant them within the towers to blow them up. With the tunnels under the city were breached, alarm spread across Karak Ankor and the nearest unmolested Hold mustered a relief force. Now that relief force is scheduled to arrive as the invaders pour into the Grand Station. Destroy the towers and prepare for the onslaught!

Alrik Ranulfsson
Fate is a cruel mistress! The second you blow up the last tower a bright light appears in the western tunnel – the reinforcements from Karak Hirn are on their way! Now you can either choose to take on the wave of dwarves from Karak Hirn which will consist of a few cars of champions, followed by Alrik Ranulfsson, or you can take some time to derail their plans. Once the last tower is destroyed you have roughly a minute before the train arrives to prepare. To ease the fight ahead you can try and see what happens when you pile up a bunch of kegs with black powder on the rail line… one would imagine it would make a big boom, yes? Well lets say in the hypothetical universe you pull off this experiment and derail the train, then I believe I would say all the passengers of this train would be in a far worse position to fight. Once the champions are defeated either by the axe or by an explosion then Alrik Ranulfsson will emerge from the last car, which fate would have it did not blow up.
Alrik Ranulfsson, King of Karak Hirn, is a level 58 Hammerer lord. He is a pretty chunky fellow. Sorry I mean well rounded. He is a well rounded fellow and because of this, his royalness is carried about by two shield bearers on a massive shield, each is a level 50 hero. Being a Hammerer, Alrik is armed with a two-handed hammer (imagine that!) which is embedded with four powerful runes. The Master Rune of Flight allows him to throw his hammer at targets up to 100 feet away and it returns to him; the Master Rune of Breaking allows him to decrease his targets weapon skill; the Rune of Fate increases his dodge and parry rate; and the Rune of Shielding decreases the damage he takes from ranged attacks over 50 feet (because, after all, he can’t move all to fast to chase people about, so he prefers you stay near his heavenly body). While carried about on his shield, his movement speed is what we would consider ‘normal’ for a boss, to reduce his run speed by 25% you have to kill one of the shield bearers. However, if you kill one obviously the other can’t carry Alrik alone so he will let him fall (on accident I assure you) and fight along side him, causing you to deal with the lord and the hero. His abilities consist of an cone-aoe stagger, a knock down or knock back with his flying hammer (which will always go to the target farthest away), and a shield crush which reduces a tanks block and consequently knocks them down (but don’t worry he wont break aggro, he’ll just beat on the tank harder). So in many ways he is like the Hammerers that were removed from the game. The difficulty in the fight lay in the fact that for range dps to be optimal they have to get in close quarters, and in close quarters Alrik Ranulfsson is a mean fellow.
Upon defeating Alrik Ranulfsson he has an ‘x’% chance a repairable piece of Monarch Jewelery for tanks. He also has an ‘x’% chance of dropping a two-handed axe for Choppas – “Da Stuntie Splitta”

Lore
Alrik Ranulfsson is the King of Karak Hirn. I don’t really know much about him, as is the case with most key figures in dwarf lore so I wont make up a pretend post. My apologies.